The present invention relates to office furniture chairs.
Prior art sling type office chairs employ a pair of spaced side rails to which is fastened some type of supporting fabric. The fabric is somehow securely clamped to the side rails so as to provide a sling between the side rails. The fabric of course gives slightly when seated upon to give the chair a comfortable feeling. However, sling chairs are relatively expensive in the office furniture industry, probably primarily because of the expensive fastening systems required to properly secure the slung upholstery to the side rails.
Stacking chairs employ a generally rigid seat member mounted on some type of frame. Generally, the seat spans some distance between spaced frame members at the side of the frame. Because the seat is somewhat rigid, the problem of fastening the sides of the seat to the side support members of the frame is less critical than the problem of fastening slung upholstery to the side rails of a sling chair. Still, there is a severe loading situation when the seat is sat upon and accordingly, substantial fastening is required to properly secure the seat member to the spaced side members of the frame. One prior art U.S. Pat. No. 3,431,022 to Poppe et al discloses the employment of support shoes positioned immediately adjacent the chair side rails to aid in supporting the rigid seat member when seated upon. The edges of the seat member are also securely clamped to the side members. Another prior art patent to Faiks and Buhk, U.S. Pat. No. 3,724,897 discloses a stacking chair in which a tongue and slot arrangement are employed at the sides of a relatively rigid seat to aid in holding the seat member securely to the sides of the chair frame.
As is apparent, a good deal of expense is involved in securing either the sling type upholstery to its supporting side rails or the more rigid seat member to the side supporting members of its supporting frame. There has been a need for improving the strength of such chairs in an economical way as is evident by the above mentioned patent and development activity in the area of improving the securing systems at the sides of sling type and stacking type chairs.